Method of treating cotton-seed hulls.



E. C, DE SEGUNDU. METHOD OF TREATING- COTTON SEED BULLS.

APPLICATION FILED DEG. 8, 1910 mgg 'yg Patentmi Mar. 10, 1914:.

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E. 0. DE $EGUNDO.

METHOD 01E TREATING COTTON SEED HULLS.

APPLIUATION FILED DEG. 8. 1910.

Patented Mar. H), mm.

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EDWARD CABSTENSEN DE SEG-UNDO, OF LONDON, ENGLAND.

METHOD OF TREATING COTTON-SEED HULLS.

insects.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 10, 1914.

Application filed December 8, 1910. Serial No. 596,361.

art, after the cotton staple has been removed from the seed, and the latter delinted, the

said seed still retain short fiber thereon. This seed is hulled, and from the kernels, cotton seed oil is extracted. The hull particles heretofore have been practically a waste product, and it is the primaryobject of the present invention to providea method or process of separating the short lint or fiber from these hull particles, thus carrying the art of treating cotton seed to its necessary final step by producing two products, namely, a lint or fiber entirely free from hull, which may be employed in various commercial arts, and a bran composed of the hull particles entirely freed from the fiber, which is also a useful product.-

In'the accompanying drawings is illustrated mechanism, by which the preferred form of the method or process can be carried out. 1

In said drawingsFigure 1 is a longitudinal section through a defibrating. machine, Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic view, illustrating as far as practicable, the course of the products during the separating action. Fig. 3 is a detail View, indicating the manner in which the hull pa'rticlesare scoured as discharged from the machine.

Similar reference numerals designate corresponding parts in all the figures of the drawings.

The machine illustrated in Fig. 1 is substantially that disclosedin applicants application for Letters Patent, Serial No; 489,981, filed April 15, 1909, and therefore needs no minute description. Suflice it to state that an outer casing is provided, comprising a lower section 1 and an upper section 5 with a tapered cap 6 mounted on the upper section, said cap being in communiof London, have lnvent cation with an uptake or outtake pipe 7 leading to the inlet of a suitable rotary fan 8. The lower section 1 of the casing is provided with verticalinset ribs 9, and also has a bottom 10 provided with combined air inlet and hull outlet openings 11. These openings are formed by punching downwardly tongues 12, which tongues, as illustrated in Fig. 3, are disposed at an inclination to the bottom.

A vertical shaft 13 extends centrally through the bottom into the casing, and has mounted thereon, a series of heater or threshing arms 14 that are disposed in the lower section in spaced relation to the bottom and the side walls. The upper section 5 is provided in its side walls with a plurality of openings 15, which are capable of being more or less closed by suitable shutters 16 slidable on the casing section 5.

In order to feed the hulls to be treatedinto the machine, a suitable conduit 17 is'located at one side of the casing, and has a. lower discharge end 18 opening into said casing between the ports 15 and the boaters. The feeding action preferably takes place under the substantial exclusion of air, and therefore a rotary valve 19 is located in the conduit 17.

In carrying out the process, the fan 8 is placed in operation, and the heaters 14 are revolved. The hulls, with the fiber thereon,

are thereupon fed downwardly through the conduit 17 and into the casing. between the openings 15 and the heaters. As a consequence, said hulls gravitate into the range of action of the heaters, and are thoroughly threshed without being ground. The beat ers, revolving at a high rate of speed, loosen and detach the fibers from the hull particles, and said hull particles being. heavier than the fiber, will be driven by centrifugal force into the outermost portion of the casing.

The fan 8-, being in operation, will of course cause an upward draft or upward current of air through the casing, said currents or draft being admitted through the openings 11 in the bottom and passing upward to the outtake 7. The rapidly revolving heaters, will however, cause such currents to whirl within the casing and cttcct'tho separation, as above described. As the whirling current laden with the fiber and the lighter hull particles reaches the openings 15, lateral air currents admitted through said openings and caused by'the fan 8'will impinge against the whirling current, and stop the further upward progress of the hull particles, at the same time assisting the upward movement of the fiber, freed from said hull particles.

The said particles substantially freed from I of said whirling draft and also to moveby fiber, will gradually pass down through the casing until they reach the lower air inlet openings 11. The fan 8 is driven at such a speed that the air rushing through said openings 11 will prevent the gravitation of the lint, but will not prohibit the, outward passage of the hull particles, and said hull particles will be given a scouring action by the air, as they pass outwardly and downwardly along the tongues 12 against the inwardly moving currents. Consequently any fiber which may cling to or be caught by the hulls, will be freed therefrom and carried upwardly.

The process can probably be best illustrated by reference to Figs. 2 and 3, wherein the whirling upward movement of the air is indicated by the line A, and the lateral inward air currents, passing through the upper openings, are indicated by the arrow B These air currents B appear to cause the upward whirling draft to swerve inwardly, and thus turn the hull particles, in dicated by the arrow C inwardly and permit their downward movement, while the lint or fiber indicated by the dotted arrow D will be assisted in its upward movement toward the outtake. Referring now more particularly to Fig. 3, the direction in which the heaters operate is indicated by the arrow just above the beater 1i, shown, and the inrushing current of air through one of the lower openings 11 is shown by the arrow A. The hull particles indicated by the arrow C pass down the tongue 12, and are therefore subjected to the scouring action, as above set forth.v

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure byLetters Patent, is

1. The method of defibrating cotton seed hulls, which consists in threshing said hulls without grinding them, simultaneously subjecting the hulls and fiber to a whirling upward draft of air to carry off the detached fiber therewith and cause the hulls to move by centrifugal force toward the periphery gravity ina downward direction, and 1mpinging against said whirling draft, a transverse current of air to assist the upward draft of air carrying oif theiiber, while hindering the upward movement of the defibrated hull particles.

2. The method of defibrating cotton seed hulls, which consists in threshing said hulls without grinding them, simultaneously sub jecting the hulls and fiber to a whirling upward draft of air to carry oif the detached fiber therewith and cause the hulls to move by centrifugal force toward the periphery of said whirling draft and also to move by gravity in a downward direction, confining said whirling current to a substantially cylindrical form with the main body of hulls at the periphery thereof, and directing into said periphery impinging currents of air that stop upwardly moving hull particles while permitting the upward passage of the fiber.

3. The method of defibrating cotton seed hulls, which includes the threshing of the hulls and-causing an upward whirl of the same, admitting lateral air currents into the whirl, and feeding the hulls to be defibrated into the field of the threashing action below the lateral air currents.

4. The method of defibrating cotton seed hulls, which includes the threshing of the hulls and causing an upward whirl of the same, admitting air currents into the whirl, and feeding hulls to be defibrated into the whirl between the field of the threshing action and the lateral air currents.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand.

EDWARD CARSTENSEN DE SEGUNDO. lVitnesses H. D. JAMESON, C. P. LIDDON. 

